Hi, Albertagirl, I will try to help.
I have walked the Puentes de Malpaso route from Ponferrada to El Acebo “in reverse”, that is, as day 1 of the Circle. (The Valley of Silence Circle days I walked were Ponferrada to El Acebo, El Acebo to Peñalba de Santiago, and Peñalba de Santiago back to Ponferrada).
For someone who will be on the Francés in El Acebo, and who wants to get to the Invierno, and who doesn’t care whether she gets back to Molinaseca, I see three options.
First would be to walk El Acebo to Ponferrada on the Puentes de Malpaso. That will be 19 km. The track I made when I walked is here on wikiloc. I believe that about the last 5 km into Ponferrada will be road-walking, but mainly on very low traffic country roads.
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=7544208
Second would be a two-day version. Day one, walk El Acebo to Peñalba de Santiago on the Valley of Silence trail. That is about 22 km.
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/el-acebo-to-penalba-de-santiago-7544511 Day two, from Peñalba you would walk to Ponferrada. That’s 24 km.
https://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/spatialArtifacts.do?event=setCurrentSpatialArtifact&id=7544531
Third would be to walk the same day one as above, but from Peñalba de Santiago to walk directly to As Médulas, which puts you at the end of the first day of the Invierno. I have not yet walked that segment, but hope to this summer and can report back. Rebekah has said it is really hard. And remote.
These are all ways to incorporate the Valley of Silence into a linear camino walk, without doing the three day “circle” that Rebekah and I did. The circle was wonderful, as I detailed in my post years ago, but I know that there aren’t many people who want to take a three day detour off route as they are walking on a camino.
The El Acebo to Ponferrada route on the Puentes de Malpaso goes through Riego de Ambrós (you can see it on my wikiloc tracks). The route from El Acebo to Peñalba de Santiago goes straight down into the valley from in front of the Casa Rural La Trucha and does not go back to Riego.
I cannot help with maps.me, but even if you don’t use gps, looking at the wikilocs tracks I have posted will give you an idea of the route. I definitely would have some kind of electronic guide because these routes are remote. Company would be ideal, of course.
Let me know if I didn’t clear things up, buen camino, Laurie